Families and friends of eight scuba divers who went missing in waters off Kenting National Park on Saturday morning were rejoicing yesterday after a marathon 10-hour swim by one of the group led to the rest being rescued.
Ting Po-ling (丁柏齡), a diving instructor, reached the shoreline of Taimali Township (太麻里), Taitung County, before midnight on Sunday to raise an alert.
Ting told coast guard officers that he had left the other seven divers alive in waters off Taimali.
PHOTO: CNA
Helicopters rescued five of the divers at 2am yesterday after the divers used the flashes on their underwater camera to pinpoint their location. The remaining two divers were picked up by helicopter around 10am, coast guard officers said.
The six men and two women were hospitalized immediately, officers said. Doctors said they were suffering from minor dehydration, facial burns and hypothermia, but were in stable condition.
Ting told reporters at the hospital that it took him almost 10 hours to reach the coast.
“The desire to have a cold sports drink gave me the strength to reach land,” he said.
Ting said the group was diving between Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and Chihsingyen (七星岩), a popular diving spot off Kenting National Park, on Saturday morning.
He had planned to lead the divers to the south, but the strong current carried them to the northeast and they lost contact with their dive boat.
The first night in the water was very cold, Ting said, and he asked the others to watch out for one another and try to stay awake. He said they floated on their backs to save energy, linked hands to ensure they would stick together, and chatted and joked to keep their spirits up.
At 6:30am on Sunday they saw a helicopter flying nearby, but they were not spotted, he said, and that was when the decision was made for some of the group to swim for help.
Ting said he divided the eight into two groups based on their strengths.
“I teamed up with three divers, but later I decided to swim to the coast by myself,” he said.
The eight, all experienced divers, were part of a 12-person group that had begun a dive at 10:30am on Saturday and were supposed to return to their boat at 11:30am.
After the eight failed to return to the boat, the boat’s skipper reported their disappearance to the coast guard at Hengchun (恆春). Five helicopters and nine patrol boats took part in the rescue operation, while the divers’ relatives hired fishing boats to help with the search.
Citigroup Inc plans to exit retail banking in 13 markets across Asia, and the region of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The bank would instead operate its consumer-banking franchise in both regions from four wealth centers in Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and London, it said yesterday in a statement. The move is part of an ongoing review of the company’s strategy by chief executive officer Jane Fraser, who took over last month. “This positions us to capture the strong growth and attractive returns the wealth-management business offers through these important hubs,” Fraser said. Citigroup is to exit its consumer
‘IMPORTANT PARTNER’: The new guidelines aim to encourage US engagement with Taiwan, which reflects a deepening relationship, the US Department of State said The US Department of State on Friday issued new guidelines governing US officials’ interactions with their Taiwanese counterparts, a move welcomed by Taipei as turning a new page in bilateral relations. Shortly before leaving office, then-US secretary of state Mike Pompeo on Jan. 9 announced the cancelation of previous contact guidelines, which he said were “self-imposed restrictions” that attempted to appease the Chinese Communist Party regime in Beijing. However, the status of the guidelines has been unclear since US President Joe Biden entered the White House. Asked about the issue during a legislative session on Thursday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu
CONFIDENTIAL: The trip had not been made public until just before ex-senator Chris Dodd, and ex-state department officials Richard Armitage and James Steinberg arrived The government yesterday welcomed an “unofficial” delegation sent by US President Joe Biden, while another delegation led by US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry was headed to Shanghai. Biden’s first delegation to Taiwan is made up of former US senator Chris Dodd, and former US deputy secretaries of state Richard Armitage and James Steinberg. They are to stay in Taiwan until tomorrow. Their arrival, on a chartered flight, had been kept confidential until media reported the visit yesterday morning, after which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a short notice that they were expected to arrive at 2:40pm. The flight landed at
‘IDEAL FIT’: A report on Sunday said that the Canadian government threatened to pull its support and funding from the HFX if the award was given to the president The government would respect the decision of the organizer of the John McCain Prize for Leadership in Public Service on whether it plans to award a prize to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. The statement was issued after US Web site Politico reported a day earlier that the Canadian government had warned the Halifax International Security Forum (HFX) not to give the award to Tsai for fear of provoking Beijing. “The ministry believes that if the Halifax International Security Forum confers the prize upon President Tsai, it would be an affirmation and honor for both
RSS